Coronation Street spoiler: Bethany sleeps with Nathan's friend

Inside Soap magazine have an interview with Lucy Fallon, who plays Bethany, and she talks about the darkening of this grooming storyline.

Lucy says: "I've just read through the first scene where Nathan passes Bethany on to one of his friends for sex as a favour. She isn't raped - she agrees to have sex with the guy, but only because Nathan tells her that it's normal and that this is what adult relationships are really like. When I read that, it made my skin crawl. It was horrible and disturbing to film."

She continues: "I'm sure people will say that scenes like these shouldn't be on TV before the watershed but it's really important they are - and that young girls watch. They might think 'Maybe what's happening to me isn't normal' or parents might start talking to their daughters about their relationships.

"I'm hoping that the scenes get darker as they need to do justice to the girls who have gone through this - and are still going through it. It needs to get dark otherwise we're not doing it properly."

7 comments:

This storyline is troubling for a couple of reasons.News and talk shows have discussed this and related topics before and similar stories were done for TV movies. They air at a more acceptable time for it and when parents and girls the age to get groomed would be up to see it. Will anyone learn anything new from this? I'd be surprised if they did.Putting that aside, it just makes no sense that Bethany would be the one falling for it. Yes, she was bullied but that story was resolved and she was vindicated so why would she feel or be this vulnerable. She wouldn't need Nathan to give her beauty products or help her produce a beauty blog with access to her greatgrandmother's salon and her stylist relatives. Her acting grateful for his scraps when she must have more products and tools than she could use in a lifetime filling every corner of the house is ridiculous. Also, why would she go along with the idea that adults pass their dates around for sex? She's seen her mother and uncle in relationships and even Callum-a drug dealer- didn't make such demands of Sarah. Though she may be too young, it would have made more sense to have a girl with less sense, less opportunities and less self-esteem like Faye go through this than Bethany.Having Bethany do it makes it seem as though these girls are all too willing to meet trouble half way and though that helped move the story along faster, that's not the reality.

I agree that Bethany isn't likely to believe that people share their partners as a usual thing. But I suppose she would want to keep him sweet as he's older and she hasn't much luck with romance so far.

I get that she hasn't had much luck in love but it should be obvious to her that the two times she struck out were with men old enough to be interested in her mother. The same could be said of Nathan-he must be years older than Callum and Gary. We haven't seen her once show interest in a boy nearer her age to see how that would go.Maybe it's just me but Bethany doesn't seem desperate or damaged enough to be this guy's victim. She has relatives she could turn to, she's lived abroad, has opportunities and frankly, a girl that beautiful and nice would have had people fawning over her all her life.There's nothing Nathan could say to her she wouldn't have heard before and with no disgusting strings attached. Look at what happened with Gary, sure he thinks of her as a child- as well he should-but he genuinely likes her as does Todd, etc.It's one thing to want to keep a boyfriend, quite another to go along with sleeping with his pal to do it.

I find Lucy Fallon is doing a great job with the material, and I've been willing to suspend disbelief on some of the points mentioned above...but I too find it hard to believe Bethany would go along with sleeping with her boyfriend's friend thinking that it's "what adults do".

I am really looking forward to how Nathan will get her to agree to sleeping with one of his friends, so far I have been sceptical about how he would manage to get her to do a lot of the things she has already done and I think Corrie have done it really well. I also think it is a great choice to use Bethany as the character for this, as it shows that anyone can be groomed, not just young girls who have had a tough life or are naive etc. Bethany clearly has some issues around falling for older men - this one is only interested in her rather than her Mother for the first time - that must make her feel really special as Callum and Gary wanted her Mum not her. It is being acted really well so far and as disturbing as it is to watch, I think it is a massively important storyline for young girls to see.